Dayal Singh College was  founded in accordance with  the  will of  Sardar Dayal Singh Majithia (1848-1898),  one of the  greatest sons of Punjab,  in  Lahore. The college, run by an educational trust, originally consisted of Dayal Singh College, Dayal Singh Library, Dayal Singh Majithia Hall and Dayal Singh Mansions located at the Mall, adjacent to Lahore High Court. The entire complex owed its existence to the public-spirited, Sardar Dayal Singh Majithia, a feudal lord from Majithia, located half-way between Lahore and Amritsar not far from what is now known as Wagah border.

He had bequeathed his fortune to set up an educational trust which set up a college and library at Lahore and Delhi respectively and a college in Karnal, which are all running today on their founder’s name. In 1895, he recorded a will with the Lahore Registrar, in which he gave most of his property for the construction of libraries, reading rooms and colleges to be administered by a trust. His relatives contested the will after his death. The litigation ended in 1907, however, and the Dayal Singh Reading Room and Library was opened at his former haveli. Dayal Singh College was formally inaugurated on May 3, 1910.